Topic Wiki

https://www.dansdeals.com/more/dans-commentary/dark-side-earning-credit-card-points-psa-dont-swipe-others/

https://www.mixcloud.com/zev-brenner/talkline-with-zev-brenner-on-credit-card-scams-affecting-the-orthodox-jewish-community/

http://podcast.headlinesbook.com/e/31616-credit-card-miles-and-points-swiping-for-rewards-buying-and-selling-miles-is-it-assur-and-a-chillul-hashem-or-a-great-way-for-a-side-parnassah/



BEFORE SWIPING FOR SOMEONE READ THIS: (first hand story)

https://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=36812.msg2062371#msg2062371
https://www.dansdeals.com/more/dans-commentary/dark-side-earning-credit-card-points-psa-dont-swipe-others/#comment-1399884


Dan's warning to DDF:
I hope people realize that any buying group or anyone else that gets merchandise in advance of payment can go south at any time. That's even if you get a check at the time of delivery.
X-posting as I don't want anyone to say that I never put a warning here.

A story that ended up in court - https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/DocumentList?docketId=iRcRHuyZUdOIx69D00a5XQ==&display=all&courtType=Kings%20County%20Supreme%20Court&resultsPageNum=1


I am one of the biggest buyers for buying groups, I have done millions in transactions and have sent to every group there is over the past 3 years. Most buying groups are okay, some scan in slower than others, some pay slower than others - most will lose a few packages over the year. You can research and find which are better for you.

However there is a bigger problem now with Amazon itself.  Amazon in the past has been great with any problems always ready with a refund for lost packages even if it was thousands of dollars. Lately Amazon has clamped down and has tagged these buying groups addresses  in their systems as "freight forwarder" and now no longer will fix any problem you have whatsoever. Doesn't matter what the problem is, even if it shows the package was never delivered, amazon will not help you in any way. Their copy and paste response will always be "this item was sent to a freight forwarder and we're unable to replace or refund the item. We recommend contacting your freight forwarder for more details, as we don't have any more insight or information regarding this matter, For more information about sending items via freight forwarders, please visit our Help Pages: https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201117950." As well the amazon drivers either must know this or have been increasingly bad at delivering packages because the numbers of packages missing has gone up astronomically. Previously you would have very few packages missing, now the past 3 months I have had 59 "lost" packages. I now have over $15,000 of loses and some guy in Delaware is probably living the life with all the stuff he stole from me. I will survive, I have made a lot more than $15,000 over the years however just a warning to others here that things are not as they used to be and it really is no longer worth doing buring groups with all the loses piling up

« Last edited by Yo ssi on July 24, 2023, 06:47:26 PM »

Author Topic: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others  (Read 1182900 times)

Offline JACKBLUE

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #2160 on: February 18, 2019, 12:05:39 PM »
@bznt @JACKBLUE @Z56
since it was a lot of people who got scammed
just have they create a new user name and put more details
this could help clarify everything
They are all reading this thread and for some reason (which I don’t understand) they still don’t wanto come out.....

Offline yesitsme

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #2161 on: February 18, 2019, 12:18:41 PM »
I think between @yesitsme and @YesThatsMe we can get the full story, no I understand why you chose that username.
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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #2162 on: February 18, 2019, 12:19:27 PM »
They are all reading this thread and for some reason (which I don’t understand) they still don’t wanto come out.....

Totally understand them. If you would just know how many PM's and calls I got from "people involved" to shut up. I don't care because I have 0 to lose, but I guess others are.

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #2163 on: February 18, 2019, 12:45:13 PM »
Totally understand them. If you would just know how many PM's and calls I got from "people involved" to shut up. I don't care because I have 0 to lose, but I guess others are.

this doesnt make sense
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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #2164 on: February 18, 2019, 12:52:11 PM »
The store was profitable enough to pay a decent profit to the owners. A few good management decisions had been taken about 3 - 4 years ago to get it there. A small business, friendly service, part of the community, run by great guys.

Now one employee at the store began selling stuff online from the basement. They were very successful. They expanded - to a warehouse in Lakewood -, hired guys - working "virtually" (not in Lakewood) - to manage the Amazon accounts (buyers basically), and took investors - (or people they believed had access to investors) - money to fund purchases.

A lot, if not most of products were giving amazing returns. However, a lot sat in inventory and wouldn't move. Some sold for cost, or even a bit less. Also, no star product would last a decent cycle. A certain anonymous vendor came onto the listings of a great line and basically wiped away the micro-industry. The competition on Amazon is so fierce it's scary. So the profits were being used to run operations, while the warehouse became overloaded and inventory was ignored - especially on the financial statements.

Everyone involved was promised "commissions", basically a waterfall from the "profits". It was my job to calculate what the profits per Amazon account was. However, investors were promised a 10% ROE, plus a percentage of the profits (obviously the owners had no idea how to differentiate between a "loan" and an "investment"). The account manager got decent wages (paid by Sterling), and 10% of the profits. Yet inventory was never accounted for. So a buyer could spend $200K on various goods, and turn over $100K of it for $150K. Now the $50K profit got divvied up, but the $100K that didn't sell (and in my opinion, never will) sat. The right place for this would be a $100K write-off, but the only books it would go on were Sterling's. The buyers and investors were doing great! The buyers got paid quarterly, the investors got great Excel sheets, and Sterling was running out of money.

Eventually, such an operation will run out of cash. Also, since I left, the owners went on a "Business Shopping Spree", buying up different businesses they felt they can turn around. They began a affiliate trucking business which was very successful. In order to pay-where-they-needed, they used money from wherever-there-was that day. Investors who understood they were investing in account X, managed by Mr. X, focusing on product X, which was a sound idea, found their money being "inter-company-loaned" to whoever needed money that day. There was no Controller or CFO, the owners just "Churned Water".

Now I have no idea how the CC thing began. It was definitely not something that would of crossed the owners minds during my stint there. I guess the situation got really desperate. Again, they were, and are, great honest Erliche guys. They gave Tzedakah, kept people on payroll because they were scared to take way Parnassah from a Yid, and kept their work-space to the highest Tznius standards. They took Mamesh nothing, even when one made Chasuna. They legitimately believed they knew what they were doing, and wouldn't listen to whoever said otherwise. This was, in my opinion, their only fault.

 

Using money from investors for one company to fund another and then not being able to pay back is something you can go to jail for...

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #2165 on: February 18, 2019, 01:10:04 PM »
Using money from investors for one company to fund another and then not being able to pay back is something you can go to jail for...
+1. It's very nice to say they were ehrlich, but the actions you're describing are not ehrliche actions.

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #2166 on: February 18, 2019, 01:11:55 PM »
Also, since I left, the owners went on a "Business Shopping Spree", buying up different businesses they felt they can turn around. They began a affiliate trucking business which was very successful. In order to pay-where-they-needed, they used money from wherever-there-was that day. Investors who understood they were investing in account X, managed by Mr. X, focusing on product X, which was a sound idea, found their money being "inter-company-loaned" to whoever needed money that day. There was no Controller or CFO, the owners just "Churned Water".

Now I have no idea how the CC thing began.

T,

I respect the information from the time that you were there, however you are completely out of the loop and are spreading a lot of misinformation. Anything you've been hearing since you left, should not be quoted here, as it is also just "third party hearsay". It might be based on truth, but it's not the full story.
You can keep posting about the time you were there, but your information from after that is only partial-truths and misleading.

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #2167 on: February 18, 2019, 01:18:16 PM »
T,

I respect the information from the time that you were there, however you are completely out of the loop and are spreading a lot of misinformation. Anything you've been hearing since you left, should not be quoted here, as it is also just "third party hearsay". It might be based on truth, but it's not the full story.
You can keep posting about the time you were there, but your information from after that is only partial-truths and misleading.
Wow that account was made a long time ago... (I’m just here for the popcorn)

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #2168 on: February 18, 2019, 01:20:01 PM »
+1. It's very nice to say they were ehrlich, but the actions you're describing are not ehrliche actions.
Exactly what I have been saying. Maybe it came from cluelessness and naivete and I think we can leave that aspect to be judged by the yodea machshovos. What matters for everyone here is what seems to be the facts that they squandered other peoples money in a fraudulent manner. You seem to have realized this yourself if you considered this to be
a Sungames in the making
Feelings don't care about your facts

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #2169 on: February 18, 2019, 01:20:42 PM »
+1. It's very nice to say they were ehrlich, but the actions you're describing are not ehrliche actions.
One of the partners that left him because he was taking the money from company A to cover company B told me the same,
"He did stupid moves, but was a nice person never did anything against me"
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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #2170 on: February 18, 2019, 01:21:34 PM »
Totally understand them. If you would just know how many PM's and calls I got from "people involved" to shut up. I don't care because I have 0 to lose, but I guess others are.

T,

I respect the information from the time that you were there, however you are completely out of the loop and are spreading a lot of misinformation. Anything you've been hearing since you left, should not be quoted here, as it is also just "third party hearsay". It might be based on truth, but it's not the full story.
You can keep posting about the time you were there, but your information from after that is only partial-truths and misleading.

I have not posted anything that I heard since I left (which wasn't much, anyways). I do not spread hearsay, or misinformation. I believe you guys are good people, and I have no ill intentions.

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #2171 on: February 18, 2019, 01:26:17 PM »
I have not posted anything that I heard since I left (which wasn't much, anyways). I do not spread hearsay, or misinformation. I believe you guys are good people, and I have no ill intentions.

Also, since I left, the owners went on a "Business Shopping Spree", buying up different businesses they felt they can turn around. They began a affiliate trucking business which was very successful. In order to pay-where-they-needed, they used money from wherever-there-was that day. Investors who understood they were investing in account X, managed by Mr. X, focusing on product X, which was a sound idea, found their money being "inter-company-loaned" to whoever needed money that day. There was no Controller or CFO, the owners just "Churned Water".


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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #2172 on: February 18, 2019, 01:30:46 PM »


I edited my paragraph above to reflect the honest truth. Sorry that it was misinterpret-able as I wrote it earlier. I honestly have no idea what happened since I walked out the door.

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #2173 on: February 18, 2019, 01:53:11 PM »
The store was profitable enough to pay a decent profit to the owners. A few good management decisions had been taken about 3 - 4 years ago to get it there. A small business, friendly service, part of the community, run by great guys.

Now one employee at the store began selling stuff online from the basement. They were very successful. They expanded - to a warehouse in Lakewood -, hired guys - working "virtually" (not in Lakewood) - to manage the Amazon accounts (buyers basically), and took investors - (or people they believed had access to investors) - money to fund purchases.

A lot, if not most of products were giving amazing returns. However, a lot sat in inventory and wouldn't move. Some sold for cost, or even a bit less. Also, no star product would last a decent cycle. A certain anonymous vendor came onto the listings of a great line and basically wiped away the micro-industry. The competition on Amazon is so fierce it's scary. So the profits were being used to run operations, while the warehouse became overloaded and inventory was ignored - especially on the financial statements.

Everyone involved was promised "commissions", basically a waterfall from the "profits". It was my job to calculate what the profits per Amazon account was. However, investors were promised a 10% ROE, plus a percentage of the profits (obviously the owners had no idea how to differentiate between a "loan" and an "investment"). The account manager got decent wages (paid by Sterling), and 10% of the profits. Yet inventory was never accounted for. So a buyer could spend $200K on various goods, and turn over $100K of it for $150K. Now the $50K profit got divvied up, but the $100K that didn't sell (and in my opinion, never will) sat. The right place for this would be a $100K write-off, but the only books it would go on were Sterling's. The buyers and investors were doing great! The buyers got paid quarterly, the investors got great Excel sheets, and Sterling was running out of money.

Eventually, such an operation will run out of cash. Also, since I left, the owners went on a "Business Shopping Spree", buying up different businesses they felt they can turn around. They began a affiliate trucking business which was very successful. In order to pay-where-they-needed, they used money from wherever-there-was that day. Investors who understood they were investing in account X, managed by Mr. X, focusing on product X, which was a sound idea, found their money being "inter-company-loaned" to whoever needed money that day. There was no Controller or CFO, the owners just "Churned Water".

Now I have no idea how the CC thing began. It was definitely not something that would of crossed the owners minds during my stint there. I guess the situation got really desperate. Again, they were, and are, great honest Erliche guys. They gave Tzedakah, kept people on payroll because they were scared to take way Parnassah from a Yid, and kept their work-space to the highest Tznius standards. They took Mamesh nothing, even when one made Chasuna. They legitimately believed they knew what they were doing, and wouldn't listen to whoever said otherwise. This was, in my opinion, their only fault.

Thank you for sharing this. This is the first coherent post since the story broke that sheds light on what happened.

I do have some questions if you don’t mind. I live in CH and have passed by Sterling almost every day for the last 20 years. I remember when they were selling a lot of actual electronics like cameras, video cameras, cell phones, watches etc and they sold many appliances to the CH community as well.

I would say that for the last ten years or so, with the exception of Tishrei and Erev Pesach, the store never looked busy to me. In fact, the store was sub-leasing space to an Esrogim dealer during the busiest season of the year. (Did the owners of Sterling have ownership in that esrogim business?) Why would a profitable business need to lease their space for extra income?

Now, at any given time the store (at least appears to) have on hand quite a bit of inventory. I also assume that what is on the shelves is only a small fraction of the inventory with the rest being kept in the basement or in a warehouse. Even on the retail side of the business, were they making enough profit to offset the cost of this inventory? For every Shabbos urn or microwave they sold, didn’t they have 100 sitting in a warehouse?

I also noticed that they were heavily peddling prepaid sim cards, which is not something you normally see a thriving business doing. Prepaid sim cards are typically your corner bodega side-business. For the last five years or so, the store looked like a giant mess. The store itself had like five aisles. One of which was basically just picture frames. Other aisles had overpriced ancient cordless phones, alarm clocks, old cables and other garbage that nobody buys anymore. They seemed to slowly transition into housewares, but it still looked like a giant tornado had swept through the store whenever I did happen to set foot in there.

I never understood how a business like that can be profitable. I always assumed that the store was just a front for a profitable online business. My point is not to C”V speak ill of the store or the owners. I just want to understand how a business like this operates, and why anyone on the outside would believe the owners to be worthy of a large investment.

Offline Password

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #2174 on: February 18, 2019, 01:54:31 PM »
I edited my paragraph above to reflect the honest truth. Sorry that it was misinterpret-able as I wrote it earlier. I honestly have no idea what happened since I walked out the door.

Thank you for the edit, however it's still not the full truth. True you may have been there for the birth of the trucking company, however it grew a whole lot more since you left. And AFAIK you were definitely not there for any of the other purchases, especially not The Buzz, which you wrote about with lots of "authority" earlier.

Anyways, I'm not here to argue. My point is, you left 2 years ago and have no idea what happened since then—as you yourself admitted—so please stop spreading rumors. It helps no-one.

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #2175 on: February 18, 2019, 01:57:05 PM »
Thank you for the edit, however it's still not the full truth. True you may have been there for the birth of the trucking company, however it grew a whole lot more since you left. And AFAIK you were definitely not there for any of the other purchases, especially not The Buzz, which you wrote about with lots of "authority" earlier.

Anyways, I'm not here to argue. My point is, you left 2 years ago and have no idea what happened since then—as you yourself admitted—so please stop spreading rumors. It helps no-one.
Would you like to share the actual story?
Save your time, I don't answer PM. Post it in the forum and a dedicated DDF'er will get back to you as soon as possible.

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #2176 on: February 18, 2019, 02:07:08 PM »
Thank you for the edit, however it's still not the full truth. True you may have been there for the birth of the trucking company, however it grew a whole lot more since you left. And AFAIK you were definitely not there for any of the other purchases, especially not The Buzz, which you wrote about with lots of "authority" earlier.

Anyways, I'm not here to argue. My point is, you left 2 years ago and have no idea what happened since then—as you yourself admitted—so please stop spreading rumors. It helps no-one.

Yes I apologize for anything that may be exaggerated or assuming. From vendors and employees I kept on hearing of the exponential growth. I was not there for The Buzz (I think it went live less than a month after I left IIRC) but I did help a little with the preliminary UW. I spread no rumors, I seek to help all. Admins can verify that I seeked to have certain earlier posts removed for your sake.

HaRav Password, may you or whomever you represent come out this B'Shalom, may all of the stakeholders do well, and may the future be as bright as possible. I think you guys are great, I personally owe you a debt of gratitude for giving me a job and the experience, and I hope you will be Zoche to do well in whatever you choose.
« Last Edit: February 18, 2019, 02:12:38 PM by YesThatsMe »

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #2177 on: February 18, 2019, 02:25:18 PM »
Would you like to share the actual story?

It is still a developing story and at this point I do not feel comfortable writing about it until it's over.
Plus, in order for the full story to be written up, there would need to be collaboration from multiple people, or from the owner himself, as there are so many moving parts. I don't think it would be fair to write up on only part of the story.

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #2178 on: February 18, 2019, 02:30:10 PM »
It is still a developing story and at this point I do not feel comfortable writing about it until it's over.
Plus, in order for the full story to be written up, there would need to be collaboration from multiple people, or from the owner himself, as there are so many moving parts. I don't think it would be fair to write up on only part of the story.
unless more people are still giving him $ what can be possibly be developing?
May you slide down the banister of happiness & get many splinters of success up your career.

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #2179 on: February 18, 2019, 02:49:16 PM »
It is still a developing story and at this point I do not feel comfortable writing about it until it's over.
Plus, in order for the full story to be written up, there would need to be collaboration from multiple people, or from the owner himself, as there are so many moving parts. I don't think it would be fair to write up on only part of the story.

madoff story is still going on
they are still recovering money...

so you are saying just never to talk about this

are you the owner? or just friends with the owner ?
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